The B.C. Government is confident it can win any legal challenge against new speed cameras, five of which were activated Monday.
Solicitor General Mike Farnworth said the province’s lawyers are certain the intersection cameras will not face the same issues as the controversial photo radar program did.
“Anytime there is a change in legal enforcement, be it for speed, alcohol, whether it’s for drug impairment, we know there will be legal challenges. We are confident in the work that has been done that it will withstand a legal challenge,” Farnworth said.
WATCH: Province activates new speed enforcement cameras in five Metro Vancouver intersections
The provincial government says what makes the intersection cameras different than photo radar is that there are clear signs. The intersections will be equipped with both radar and camera.
The cameras will take three images to determine whether a vehicle is going through a red light. On top of that, drivers could be given tickets for excessive speeding at any point in the intersection.
The province will not be telling the public how fast a driver has to go to trigger one of new green light speeding cameras.
WATCH: Province activates new speed enforcement cameras in five Metro Vancouver intersections
However, leaked audio of ICBC’s CEO obtained by Global News suggests the line could be 30 kilometres per hour over the speed limit.
“If you drive like a normal person you will not get a ticket. If you drive like a self-entitled jerk, you will get a ticket,” Farnworth said.
The tickets will go to the registered owner of the vehicle and not necessarily the driver. The province says often when the owner is not driving, it is one of their children behind the wheel of the car.
“If I take my dad’s car and he gets the ticket, I think I would be pretty affected by the time my dad gets the ticket and confronts me with it,” Farnworth said. “I may get away with doing it once, but certainly not a second time.”
Farnworth made the announcement on Monday at the corner of Boundary Road and Kingsway. There were 156 crashes last year at that intersection.
“Ideally, it would be nice to have police officers make contact with every driver and every stop,” head of the B.C. Association of Chiefs of Police traffic safety committee Neil Dubord said.
“The fact is there are way too many speeders for us to have contact with all of them.”
In total there will be 35 intersection cameras that will enforce against both running red lights and excessive speeding. All of the cameras will be active by the spring of 2020.
“If the danger to yourself or others — or the big warning signs — are not enough of a deterrent we hope that the tickets will be, and that everyone will be safer with the result of the cameras coming in,” Farnworth said.
Intersection Cameras Now Active:
- Boundary and Kingsway, Burnaby
- Kingsway and Victoria Drive, Vancouver
- Granville and King Edward, Vanccouver
- King George at 152nd, Surrey
- Lougheed Highway and Dewdney Trunk Road, Pitt Meadows
Intersection Cameras On The Way:
Abbotsford
- Route 11 at Lonzo Road
Burnaby
- Kingsway at Royal Oak Avenue
- Willingdon at Deer Lake
Coquitlam
- Barnet Highway at Mariner Way
Delta
- Nordel Way at 84th Avenue
Kelowna
- Harvey Avenue at Cooper Road
- Highway 97 North at Banks Road
Langley
- 200th Street at 64th Avenue
- Route 10 at Fraser Highway
Maple Ridge
- Lougheed Highway at 207th Avenue
Nanaimo
- Island Highway at Aulds Road
North Vancouver
- Marine Drive at Capilano Road
Port Coquitlam
- Lougheed Highway at Shaughnessy Street
Richmond
- Garden City Road at Cambie Road
Surrey
- 128th Street at 88th Avenue
- 152nd Street at 96th Avenue
- 64th Avenue at 152nd Street
- 96th Avenue at 132nd Street
- King George Boulevard at 104th Avenue
- King George Boulevard at 80th Avenue
Vancouver
- Boundary Road at East 49th Avenue
- East Hastings Street at Main Street
- East Hastings Street at Renfrew Street
- Grandview Highway at Rupert Street
- Kingsway at Joyce Street
- Knight Street at East 33rd Avenue
- Oak Street at West 57th Avenue
- Oak Street at West 70th Avenue
- Southeast Marine Drive at Kerr Street
- West Georgia Street at Cardero Street
Comments